Optimization Programs

Since I'm no Mac geek I need your help. Which of these apps is the most go-to app? A friend's MacBook turned sluggish.

• Cocktail 4.0/5.0
• MainMenu Pro 3
• MacKeeper 1.8
• MacPilot 4 Onyx 2.x
• Snow Leopard / Lion Cache Cleaner
• Tinkertool
• System 2

The magazine wrote only about MainMenu Pro 3 and Onyx 2 (freeware)

 

None of those. In fact, MacKeeper is a known virus and won't work on the latest versions of Snow Leopard or Lion. There is a larger underlying problem that your friend's Mac is experiencing and there is absolutely no need to download and install some "optimization" program. All your friend has to do is backup their data files and re-install OS X using the discs supplied with their Mac. It is a free solution that should take about 25 minutes and is much better than installing some program that infests the computer only to charge you to remove it (all while collecting personal information).

 

^ This.

Unless there is an underlying hardware problem (dying hard drive, faulty RAM, whatever), a data backup and reinstall of the operating system will fix everything.

 

agree, no program. OS reinstall

 

Alright, thanks to you three for the input.
How can MacKeeper be a virus?

How does one backup program settings? Individually? God this will turn into such a hassle..

wihihihi 22:49 (GMT+1). That laptop just received a MacKeeper pop-up. After I googled this out of many articles (on mine): Reed Corner Design : Tech News Blog Archive Beware MacKeeper and maybe [closed] Is MacKeeper A Virus or Trojan? - Crowdsourcing Questions & Answers.

 

MacKeeper just is. As I said, Apple has updated both OS X Snow Leopard and Lion to stop MacKeeper from even being installed. It is nothing more than a program that collects user information while charging people to remove it. There was a period of 1-2 weeks when it looked legitimate but MacKeeper's true side was finally exposed.

Program setting might be backed up through each program, I don't know and that all depends on the program in question. Your friend can also use Time Machine, create a backup, reformat their primary hard drive, install a fresh copy of OS X Snow Leopard/Lion (whatever they have), and then use the migration assistant to copy over any installed programs and settings.

Just keep in mind that, if they have malicious software installed (and that is the cause of the problem), it will be moved over onto the fresh OS X install when using the migration assistant.

 

The same way any virus is a virus. It is software which conforms to the accepted definition of a virus. Well, technically, I would call it malware, but that's not too relevant for this discussion.

Mackeeper is software which disrupts your operation of your computer, and gains unauthorized access to your personal information. It is dishonestly crafted software.

 

Am I the only one who uses Disk Utility to create an image of a machine? I've used Time Machine a couple of times in the past to restore a file or folder, but never to do a full system restore. Is it easier? Quicker?

 

My question implied something else. How a respectable magazine, I would say, could advertise something like this. I suppose the answer is money and advertising, but I'm usually not the guy to believe in conspiracies around every corner. Maybe the writers have good intentions and the editors not.

kornchild2002
Ok.

 

Time Machine is built into OS X allowing you to restore from a backup without having to fully boot. Additionally, Time Machine comes in handy if you want to migrate from one Mac to another. The use of Disk utility to make an image is the "old school" way of doing things. Not only that but Time Machine can work automatically with networked hard drives making the whole thing rather painless. I simply come home, connect to my network, and Time Machine will create a backup about once every day.

The process is a lot more automated than opening up the Disk Utility and creating an image of your machine (I don't think that will work when migrating to a new Mac either).

 

Yes, you can use Time Machine to create a backup of your disk, and then after doing a re-install of OS X, use Migration Assistant to restore all your files and settings from the Time Machine backup.

 

is your friend running win7 alongside of OSX

i did that for my wife......the MBP REALLY slowed down

 

I see I need to update my way of thinking But yes, you can use DU to make an image and push it to a new hard drive. Thats how I did with the Samsung 830 that I just put in my 13" MBP - took an image, saved it to my external, booted from the external which has a base Lion image on it, then used DU again to load the image.

 

I've been using OnyX since I had my first iBook, a 700MHz G3 Dual-USB model running Panther. It's been a rather reliable app and seems to work rather well even on Lion. Best of all, it's free.

 

Time Machine works a little easier than that. Now that Lion installs a bootable partition on all Macs running it, you can even just boot from that and restore from a Time Machine backup. I haven't come across any issues with Time Machine (i.e. missing settings, programs, or other data) and best of all, you can use a single Time Machine backup with multiple Macs (whereas you can't do that with a backup image). It was extremely easy migrating from my 13" MBP to my 13" MBA. I was hesitant when it came to Time Machine as I have had negative experiences with the built-in Windows backup utility but it has worked quite nicely for me.

 

paradigm018
No, it's pretty much vanilla. Though what is happening on and off are a few brisk movements. eg: Laptop on the bed and the person sits down whereby the laptop gets into an inclined position and stuff like that. I doubt that's the cause for the problems, but I suppose the hard disk might get a hit eventually.

Datamonger
Yeah, OnyX seems to have a few customization options. I still haven't tried any.

 

@nesteazen......... do you have a NAS networked and set as auto mount...that might have something to do with it